The Voyeurism Incident

"Who on earth is that? Why do they have nothing better to do than pull a stunt like that? I was actually planning on getting my fortune told."

In the evening, while Class C was holding a study session, a girl whispered her complaints.

"Exactly. Calling it feudal superstition? Is he some kind of savage? He doesn't even know what fortune-telling is." I remembered the girl speaking; her name was Ohara Nanako, if I recall correctly.

Listening to their grumbling, I didn't care in the slightest, merely noting their names in my mind. They might come in handy in the future.

Two days passed, and the summer vacation was drawing to a close. According to the schedule set by the Student Council president, I was responsible for maintaining order at the pool.

Perhaps because the summer break was ending? There were a lot of people at the pool today. Besides the students from Class B like Ichinose whom I already knew would be coming, some people from Class D had arrived as well.

"Could you guys wait a moment?" At the entrance to the men's locker room, I stopped a few boys from Class D.

I remembered their names... Yamauchi, Ike, and Sudo, right?

"You seem to be carrying a bit too much stuff." I looked at the backpack on Ike's back, who was walking at the rear.

Is it really necessary to bring such a large backpack to a swimming pool? If they were pooling their belongings together, that would be one thing, but it was obvious that everyone had their own tote bag. That meant everyone was carrying their own personal items. In that case, the contents of the backpack were far too suspicious.

"It's no big deal, really. We just brought some... water guns, just toy water guns." The boys' expressions stiffened, and eventually, Ike stammered out a reason.

"Is that so? May I take a look?" I didn't believe Ike at all; the way he was lying was far too obvious.

"Why should we?"

"You're violating our privacy!" Hearing my words, Yamauchi instinctively clutched his backpack to his chest. What he said sounded reasonable on the surface, but it carried a tone of bluster masking fear.

"I'm just worried about whether the items in your backpack might pose any safety hazards." I was absolutely certain that these three were planning to do something they shouldn't.

"Though, privacy is indeed important..." I said, appearing to be deep in thought.

"How about this: you go in and change first, leave the backpack outside, and I'll keep it safe for you." I gave these three a final chance to choose. "Whatever you need later, you can just take it from there. It'll be more convenient than running back and forth to the locker room."

I already had a guess as to what these three idiots were planning; it was undoubtedly a crime. If they had even a shred of intelligence, they would have agreed to this. At most, I would have just made them pay a little out of pocket for whatever was in the bag.

"No way! What if you mess with our stuff? It's called privacy, do you even understand that?" Yamauchi was still shouting.

I don't know why, but I suddenly felt the urge to laugh. They were the ones planning to do that kind of thing, yet they were the ones lecturing me about privacy.

"What are you laughing at, you jerk!"

"Bastard, are you mocking us?!"

"No, I just thought of something happy." I wiped the smile from my face. Since you've already made your choice, I assume you've accepted the final outcome.

"I hope you have a pleasant day today." Because you might not have another chance like this in the future.

I stepped aside and let Ike and the others go in.

Not long after, the three of them came out. They hadn't changed into their swimsuits, but the backpack they had been carrying was gone.

Did they leave it in the locker room?

When these guys appeared again, they were accompanied by a few others. It looked like they had put a lot of effort into their plan. Kushida Kikyo and Horikita Suzune—getting them to come out wasn't an easy task.

Kushida Kikyo greeted us with her usual angelic smile, while Horikita's gaze toward me was complex—envy, jealousy, disgust... Seriously, what did the Student Council president say to her last time?

"Good morning, Sudo-kun, Kikyo-chan..." Ichinose and her friends arrived at the pool around the same time.

Ichinose waved excitedly, greeting me and the guys from Class D.

"Good morning, Ichinose-san." I thought for a moment, then smiled. "Actually, I have some Student Council business I'd like to discuss with you. Could I bother you for a few minutes?"

"Oh? Then Komako, you guys go ahead and change. I'll be there in a second," Ichinose said to her friends.

After the Class D students had all left, I turned to Ichinose and spoke.

"Ichinose, could you do me a favor and check the women's locker room?"

"Huh? Why haven't the girls come out yet? Does it really take that long to change into a swimsuit?"

After Ike and the others from Class D came out changed, they realized there wasn't a single girl in the pool.

"Well, they're girls, after all. Changing clothes is bound to take a long time," Yamauchi said with the tone of an expert.

I paced around the pool, waiting for news from Ichinose.

Why hadn't any girls come out? That was, of course, my doing. After becoming suspicious of the Class D group's behavior, I had placed a sign at the entrance to the women's locker room.

"Locker room undergoing safety inspection. Temporarily closed."

"Is this someone's prank?"

"I don't think so."

The girls waiting to change were huddled at the entrance, whispering to each other.

"If they were going to do an inspection, why didn't they do it earlier?"

The girls were filled with complaints and frustration.

Seeing the girls' reaction, Ichinose quickened her pace, wanting to finish the inspection as soon as possible so the locker room could be used normally.

"It doesn't seem like there's anything wrong here?" Ichinose walked around the women's locker room, finding nothing unusual.

Buzz—

"Huh? Was there some kind of noise just now?" Ichinose was just about to leave when she suddenly heard a buzzing sound; after listening carefully, she realized the source of the noise was the ventilation duct.

"This is..." Upon seeing what was inside the ventilation duct, Ichinose's expression changed instantly.

"Sorry, everyone, the changing room will be temporarily closed." After receiving the message from Ichinose, Sawahara went straight to find the staff.

After opening the ventilation duct, a toy car was sitting there, with a camera placed on top of it.

"Good grief, that's certainly a creative move, you guys from Class D. However, since you've already made your choice, it's time for you to face the consequences."